Also be aware of the pre-punch signs. Opponent may be wildly abusive, finger point, and attempt to prod or push you.

May suddenly go quiet, have a vacant stare or look this may be difficult to spot on some gorillas individuals, blood red face, veins protruding from temples or neck, clenching of fists, drop shoulders, draw back of arm, shift of bodyweight.

These are just some of the many different ;approaches.

Be aware of these things they are just as essential, if not; more than your physical responses.

Remember the street thug will not stance up and start dancing around like Sugar Ray Leonard.

These are not the things you should be looking for, or base all your punch training on.

I see the most glaring mistake as practicing for self defense the same way we practice for sparring/consensual fighting.

Quote: Karate, which clearly surpasses all the other martial arts, must be considered in its final form and spirit as an expression of man's indomitable will to survive advertisity in the most direct and self-reliant manner possible, requiring only that which nature gave him-a mind and body rigorously disciplined as an inseparable entity.

"The Pinnacle of Karate" Robert A. Trias

The book is excellent with 12 different sparring and scenario training drills, including ground fighting and sparring against weapons.

Kumite's practiced while moving forwards and at angles, ocassionally even stepping backwards.

Pressure points, advice on diet for martial artists, just loaded with information. Master Trias was cross-training in Judo and jujitsu 30+ years before it became popular to do so.

Never met him, but the info in his book is good stuff.

The USKA a huge organization gone after the passing of Master Trias. I have a shodan certificate from them myself. If you ever see the books buy them. F.

Trias is the big man on the right. You also see Bruce Lee in front of George.

In 1964 Trias staged another World Karate Championship in Chicago. That same year two new tournaments burst onto the scene: Ed Parker’s International Karate Championships in Long Beach, California, and Jhoon Rhee’s U.S. National Karate Championships in Washington, D.C. Parker’s tournament boasted a memorable demonstration by a then-unknown Chinese stylist named Bruce Lee.

Historians have called the period from 1963 to 1970 the “blood and guts” era in American karate.

It was a time of relatively unrestrained brutality, brought to an end when a segment of the sport split off to become kick-boxing.

Today the rules regarding “light contact” are enforced at tournaments, but usually only with regard to the head.

Punches and kicks to the body are often executed with full force, especially at the brown and black belt levels, even though they usually do not need to be in order to score.

At the highest levels, however, the referees like to hear a solid “thump” on a point scored to the chest. Fighters are expected to be in sufficiently good condition to tolerate such impacts.

Many different karate schools, styles and federations sponsor tournaments today. Kempo, Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Shuri-ryu, Isshin-ryu and others offer relatively traditional competitions that are open to other traditional styles.

American Freestyle and other taekwondo-oriented organizations offer tournaments putting more emphasis on kicking techniques, showmanship and personal creative expression (usually under UTK rules).

Kyokushin-ryu tournaments are still brutal and full-contact, as always.

The big national championships, of which there are several, offer high excitement and magnificent exhibitions of talent that will inspire any martial artist.

Big karate tournaments are almost never televised; they must be experienced in person.

Regardless of your specialties, there will usually be much of interest for the spectator as well as the competitor.

Also in 1964, Mahn Suh Park sponsored the first open tournament in Philadelphia, the Globe Tae Gyun Championships. The following year, Jhoon Rhee persuaded Wide World of Sports to film and broadcast segments of his U.S. National Karate Championships; unfortunately, the finals were so brutal and bloody that the show’s producers ended up broadcasting only a few clips, and then avoided karate entirely for the next nine years.

It seemed almost like entering a 'Kill Zone' in those days...lots of very bad injuries...teachers of different styles challenging one another on the floor...it proves the point that the human race, even with karate, is nothing but a virus on this planet.

Karate made it worse as it compounded the underlying emotional instability of some people.

Your voice is a powerful defensiveweapon. For one thing it might attractassistance and witnesses, both of whichare good for good-guy cases of self defense.For another, it can help stripaway the ambiguity from a possiblethreat and allow you to act decisively inself-defense.

Yell at that guy to stayback, and maybe he will—which wouldbe great. But if he continues to closedistance, as you’re screaming at himnot to, you now have evidence that youcan articulate of conduct of his that isconsistent with being a threat andinconsistent with someone justhappening to be going about their day.

Good guy cases of self-defensedon’t tend to get into troublebecause there’s too muchevidence in a case, they tend toget into trouble when there’s toolittle evidence and the claim ofself-defense looks speculative orfabricated.

Don’t let the evidenceand witnesses who can supportyour claim of self-defensedisappear simply because somedude on the internet told you to“never say anything to the police.”

You need that exculpatoryevidence and witnesses. If the badguy’s knife isn’t in evidence it doesn’t exist for legal purposes. And that knife iswhy you were compelled to shoot him. That knife is your legal justification fordeadly defensive force. Make sure it’s not overlooked as evidence.

Coming to the defense of strangers isalways a touchy subject (defendingfriends and family are a differentmatter entirely). Many people feel amoral imperative to intervene onbehalf of those they perceive as victimsof predatory violence. I’m not here totell anyone that such a decision iswrong, but I do urge everyone to makesuch decisions in an informed way.Understand that any fight involves agreater-than-zero risk of death and agreater-than-zero risk of going to jailfor much of the rest of your life. Also,will that woman you ‘rescued’ from herabusive SO suddenly realize she’ll lose her sugar daddy to jail if she testifiestruthfully, and perhaps testify less than truthfully? Be careful!≈ç

Law of Self Defense, LLC is an educational and legal consulting enterprisefocusing exclusively on American use-of-force law, and is led by Attorney AndrewBranca, an internationally recognized subject-matter

8. Lacking a Non-Lethal Defense

The FBI/DOJ tell us that we’re five timesmore likely to face a simple assault orbattery (a non-deadly force attack) thanan aggravated assault or battery (adeadly force attack). In most cases agun is not the legally permitted responseto a non-deadly force attack.

But whena person’s only defensive tool is thatgun, the fear and stress of even a non deadlyforce attack often compels themto pull that deadly-force response out.

Because they weren’t facing a deadlyforce threat that could justify such aresponse, they often end up chargedwith felony aggravated assault, even ifthey never fire a shot.

Have some non-deadly means of defense: OC spray, aTaser, martial arts, something. Don’t leave yourself with only a hammer, whenthe threat you face will only rarely be nail.